2005-06-17 Friday News The Friday News
June 17, 2005
50 Year Celebration
Next year, 2006 is the year of the City of Mendota Heights’ 50th birthday and a committee has been
formed to determine how we should celebrate the event. The committee had its first meeting this
Tuesday here at City Hall before the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. Councilmembers
Duggan and Schneeman, Parks and Recreation Chair Spicer and Commissioners Libra and
Craighead were all on the committee. City staff helping out on the committee are Guy Kullander,
Terry Blum, Teresa Gangelhoff and Judy Wonick.
At this meeting, Councilmember Duggan and Parks and Recreation Chair Spicer were designated as
Co -Chairs of the committee (congratulations guys) and, June 3, 2006 was selected as the proposed
date for the celebration. The committee identified some possible events and Commission members
were assigned homework to do further research on their viability. The next meeting of the
committee will be Tuesday, July 12th, once again here at City Hall before the Parks and Recreation
Commission meeting. Anyone desiring to help the committee with the event can contact me
(Thanks Sally, for already volunteering).
Torch Run Tuesday
This next Tuesday beginning at 8:00 a.m. in Valley Lake Park in Apple Valley, runners will begin
their 16.4 mile run to Mendakota Park in Mendota Heights. This event is sponsored by Law
Enforcement agencies to raise money for the Special Olympics in Minnesota. Running in the event
for Mendota Heights are; Jenny Hurst, Bobby Lambert, Brian Convery, Chad Willson, John Larrive
and Stacy Kaiser. Donn Anderson will be “running” the race in his squad car, providing any needed
assistance, and Mario Reyes will be the official photographer. There will be a barbeque in
Mendakota Park for participants and other volunteers after the race. Jenny Hurst is the Torch Run’s
volunteer coordinator in Mendota Heights, this is her second year.
P.S. There is a rumor that Governor Pawlenty may run the race.
Drug Task Force MAAG Team Updates
Attached is Dakota County Drug Task Force’s first quarter drug use data. Chief Aschenbrener
points out that the chart makes it very obvious that methamphetamine has taken over as the most
popular drug to use. Also attached is the quarterly MAAG (SWAT) report. (Note: the one incident
in Mendota Heights).
Pilot Knob Lawsuit
We were notified this week by our League appointed attorney, that the Minnesota Supreme Court
has denied John Allen et al their request for review of the Court of Appeal’s decision. This brings
that case to an end.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Danielson
City Administrator
Attachments: Pipeline, Just the Facts, City Council Agenda, Pre-Application Meeting Synopsis,
DCMAAG 2005 Callout Summary, 2005 1st Qtr Drug Types & Arrest, Senior Housing Tour Day
Brochure, Letter from City of Eagan, Pioneer Press Article “Sibley High sign is met with ‘Stop!’,
SouthWest Review Article “MH townhome/condo plan sparks debate”, Villager Article “Mendota
Heights warms to Opus’ plans for EcoLab site” and Friday Fax.